I dusted off an old memory,

Tried to relive, but life grants only one glory.

I looked across a quiet shelf,

And saw the sum of my living self.

 

Some pages hold the silent tears,

The quiet hopes, the hidden fears.

Times of darkness and of light,

They live within us, undefined. 

 

Across many and many books,

I flipped through pages of my childhood,

My veiled depths were then revealed,

And for a long time, life seemed fulfilled.

 

I came across some empty books,

Ones I could still create,

Someplace shelves held no books,

Life wasn’t for too long, my fate.

 

I could tear apart the stories told,

Or close the cover and simply go.

But every book, both new and old,

Whispers the truth I’ve come to know.

 

Uma Regmi

Grade: X

Shree Bal Uddhar Secondary School

Budhanilkantha Municipality-10, Kapan